An interesting Website
by Bob D. Girl
Summary: What happens when Heero finds Duos website--which just happens to tell about Duos little 'crush' on his fellow pilot? Language and shounen ai abound.
1. Duo's little secret

An Interesting Website  
  
Oops, wrote this a few weeks ago and forgot about it o_x;  
  
Hiya, Bob here! Well, this is it... my first shounen ai fic! :D I'm so happy, I bubble!! *bubbles* Now then, this is a 1x2 fic!! Heero and Duo!! Don't like the coupling? Go away. Want Heero to be with Relena?? You frighten me, go away. However, if you positively HATE Relena... You should probably go away too.  
  
Warnings: SHOUNEN AI!! TWO MALE PEOPLE IN LOVE!!! DON'T LIKE IT!?! GO AWAY!!! X.x sheesh.  
  
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Once upon a time, Heero Yuy was doing what he did everyday... check his email. He opened up his trusty laptop and flipped the on switch, tapping his fingers impatiently. Naturally, the first thing he did was to check for new missions. However, there weren't any, and he was just about to shut it back down when the familiar "You've got mail" notice played. He hned and looked in his inbox. "Hn..." He blinked. It was from Quatre.  
  
Hey Heero, look, some pictures of all of us!! Cool, ne? See you and  
Duo at the next mission!  
-Quatre.  
  
Underneath the note were a few web addresses to some pictures. Wing's pilot looked at them, and noticed something... Duo wasn't in any of them! The perfect soldier glared at his laptop. Why would all those pictures be there of the four of us, but no Duo... Then he remembered Duo had a camera with him at the time these pictures looked like they were taken... There was the tree photo, and no one could have gotten that... they had been on a mission. Heero vividly remembered that one... it was when he first realized what a good tree climber Duo was... and how nice his hair looked unbound and tangled up in a branch... but how could some website have gotten a hold of them if Duo had taken the photos himself?? Not to mention the fact that if they got out, there could be some serious trouble for him and the other pilots.  
  
The spandex-clad pilot wrinkled his brow in frustration-why didn't Quatre seem to care that these pictures were simply floating around on the web? Then he noticed something... the URL for the pictures. All of them had the domain name of GodofDeath.net. He sweat dropped. What in the heck.?  
  
Carefully, he highlighted the domain and hit enter. His eyes grew slightly bigger (gasp!! Its an emotion!! Maybe o.O) and he sweatdropped even more. On the front page was a picture of Duo, grinning happily in his normal hyper way, with an arm on the side of the picture that was most definitely his. Under it, in big letters, it said, "Hiya!! Welcome to da personal site of Duo Maxwell, the God of Death!"  
  
Heero blinked. Duo... had a website?!  
  
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A few rooms away from where Heero sat pondering his laptop, Duo Maxwell was sitting in front of a large computer, whistling happily. He checked his website to see who was on. Hm, 3 members and 7 guests. Spiffy! Ever since last month when he had created the website, full of all kinds of neat codes he had picked up from assorted 'sources', he had been getting more and more hits.  
  
The braided pilot had to admit he really was lucky. Webspace was scarce during the war and expensive to boot. If it weren't for the Winner Foundation letting him use their servers, he would never have been able to pull off his website. Grinning, he uploaded a few more pictures. The god of death snickered, recalling the time they had been stuck in that tree for 3 hours straight during a mission, and Heero had nearly fallen out when the his branch broke. Ah, there were some good pictures there...  
  
Naturally, all of Duo's favorite pictures had a certain pilot in them... A certain pilot who happened to have blue eyes, messy brownish hair and a thing for killing people. After spending a few months with the Spandex clad soldier, you couldn't help but sort of... feel him. (Not in that way...lol, hentais!) You could get a sense of what kind of person he was, the feeling that there was more than met the eye. It was particularly easy for Duo, who had a knack for analyzing people. He could tell by the way Heero acted that he was fighting not only the forces of OZ but himself as well, fighting his emotions. In fact, the braided pilot had a feeling that Heero's turmoil was because he himself didn't know what he was fighting for, or why. That was how he was raised, and that was how he would probably remain-As emotionless as humanly possible... or as long as he could help it.  
  
Duo sighed. Yup, Heero could be a dead shell at times, but there were those brief moments where he just looked... human. Like when he was asleep, or tired after a long battle. Even Duo noticed how cute he looked when he walked, obviously tired but doing his best not to show it, over to his room in the safe house after a particularly grueling mission.  
  
The pilot smiled to himself just thinking about Heero. 'Oops, forgot to check on the guestbook... see if I've gotten any more replies to my problem... Jeesh, who'd have thought the God of Death would need help from a bunch of web surfing nuts."  
  
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"Hn..." Heero hit the enter button. Well, whoever made the page sure did have a good sense of html... the layout was really well put together. All black, and lots of CSS coding and javascript to make every single line of text stand out. It was very like Duo... Flashy and funny but still managing to be dark and mysterious, a trait Heero had noticed without even thinking about it a few missions back. Scrolling down, something caught his eye. "Help the God of Death and his sad little love life, pleaseplease...". Heero sweat dropped, and clicked on it. The sweatdrop grew bigger and bigger as he read through it.  
  
Well, see I've got a little problem. I've got this roommate of mine who's a little... anti social. But the thing is... I have a bit of a crush on him, shall we say. Ok, a big crush... If you knew him, I'd like to see you not fall for him... he even has a pink pacifist stalking him. But I have no clue what I'm supposed to do about it. Tell him? Seduce him? Any ideas? Send them to Shinigami@death.net or post them in the guestbook! Thankies!  
  
Heero stared, dumbstruck. What the Hell... He quickly explored the rest of the site. Yea, there it was... the photos he remembered Duo taking, most of his profile (conveniently leaving out the fact of him being a Gundam Pilot who happened to run around routinely blowing things up/killing people), and even a sketch he had watched Duo doodle a few weeks ago. He remembered watching Duo sit there, looking impossibly cute as he glared at the bird in front of him, as if daring it to move and mess up his drawing. But in the end, he had finally drawn a rather impressive sketch of the little sparrow. Then, to Heeros astonishment, he had given it to him. In fact, it was still sitting next to his computer...  
  
The perfect soldiers mind whirled. Duo liked him... but... did he like Duo? Did he? He was constantly with him, but that was for missions, and he had saved his life several dozen times, but that was because he was a fellow Gundam pilot... He had come closer to actually befriending Duo then anyone in his life, but that was because what could you do when you constantly were stuck with someone?  
  
He wasn't supposed to feel emotions. That was his upbringing. No emotions, no regrets. If he DID feel something for Duo... it could mean big trouble for them all, especially the braided baka. Heero sighed, not something he normally did. However, this was, obviously, not a normal thing.  
  
He got up and stretched himself, letting his muscular arms to flex out of their temporary non-moving state. The pilot allowed himself a yawn, then walked across the room and plopped down on the bed. He grabbed the sketch Duo did and examined it. Now that he really looked at it... it really was beautiful. Every feather was perfect, even the eye seemed to glow with a life of its own. Beautiful.  
  
Heero blinked. He wasn't used to looking at anything and truly seeing its beauty. If he did that... it would be emotions, and with emotions came regrets, and with regrets came problems. But then... Duo was the type of person who could bring that out in anyone, whether it be for a drawing or for the braided pilot himself. He just did.  
  
Heero leaned back and rested his head on the pillows. His eyes slowly closed and he thought about everything he had just discovered. A-Duo had a website, and didn't tell him. B-Duo apparently liked him. C- Heero might, just miiiiight like him back. He tried to think back to a time when Duo had actually acted like he liked him, just a little bit. Duo was a very good actor, Heero knew that already. But there had been that one time when he had let his guard down...  
  
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"OWIEOWIEOWIEOUCH!!! HEeeeeeyyyyyy Watch where you put those bandages!! Stupid perfect soldier cant even put on a few bandages without KILLING HIS PATIENT!! I NEED ANESTHESTIA!!  
  
"Duo, shut up. I need to concentrate. You were hit pretty bad, and it wouldn't hurt if you weren't squirming like crazy," Heero stated flatly. He was having a lot of trouble getting the bandages around Duo's arm and tied with Duo fidgeting and complaining. They had been on a mission when Duo had tripped and fallen while running from a bomb that was about to go off. In doubling around to rescue him, Heero had nearly been killed too. Luckily, both of them were shielded from the blast by a large sheet of metal that was close by, and Duo got off with a big scrape on his arm and a slightly fractured bone. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt, and Duo meant to show the world.  
  
"Heeeeeerrrroooooooo can I put the bandages on myself??"  
  
"No, you're going to kill yourself. I'm almost done,"  
  
"But... GAH!!!!"  
  
"Baka, I told you to stop moving...  
  
Duo had shut up after that, and Heero eventually got his arm bandaged and ready to heal. Later on that day, in the safehouse...  
  
"Heero?" Duo said softly as the pilot walked by his room. Duo had been resting for several hours, as he was also dead tired from the long day. Heero opened the door a little.  
  
"Hn?"  
  
"I'm sorry I was so mean earlier... it just hurt a lot... but you risked everything to go back and save me, and I bitched about it... I'm really, really sorry, Heero..." Duo's eyes were seemed unusually bright, and reflected regret and... could it be? Perhaps... affection? Heero blinked; he hadnt expected an apology (and Duo's eyes can dazzle anybody, ne?)  
  
"It's ok, Duo," Heero said, not unkindly. If it weren't for the fact he rarely smiled, he would have; as it was only his eyes showed kindness.  
  
"Thanks, Hee-chan," Duo said, grinning at him. A small blush appeared on his cheeks, and he laughed softly. Then he abruptly closed his eyes, rolled over, and fell asleep. Heero had sat there for a while, watching the braided boy. Finally he had walked out of the room, shutting the door imperceptibly. And in his sleep, if Heero had been there do see it-Duo smiled.  
  
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Heero rolled over onto his side and almost smiled at the memory. That was when he had first thought of Duo as not just a teammate but as a friend. Of course, he didn't really know what having a friend was, but he thought that Duo fit the description of what he knew pretty well. He rolled over again as he remembered that if what Duo had said on the website was true... then he might be more then a friend. He smiled (yes, actually SMILED, nearly invisible but it WAS THERE) and fell asleep.  
  
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*sweatdrop* uh... how was it? First chappie? I don't think it was uh... horrible... gah, I'm writing scary stuff like... character analysis and deep thought!! *twitch* freaky... Hm, and I originally thought this might be a one chappie thing xD guess not, ne? Uh... if I do decide to post this... reviews are good? ^_^;;;;; Flames will be used to burn down random objects, such as school x_x... don't I wish, don't we all. Eheh... anyway. Ja ne. 


	2. Enter the dragon and the evil, evil emai...

Chappie 2  
  
*Dances* its, Spring Break, and we are gonna party down and... *trips* x.x; Ok, skip that. Its spring break anyway, and I figure I might as well be useful and write an update... even though I have no clue what will happen... so now I write, and pray to Shinigami that my hands type something good. O_o It might work... Ha. Now its three weeks after Spring Break, and I haven't finished it. Go me o.O;;;  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, Dungeons and Dragons... or ANYTHING ELSE!! AHAAHAHAHAHHA!!! I own... NOTHING! YOU HEAR ME!! NOTHING I SAY!!!  
  
*Takes a deep breath* and this story has shounen ai (two guys together, romantically, being all kissy! HA!), bad language, and uh... maybe shoujo ai too, later on ^_^; Isnt it great? :D Pairing-wise... Heero and Duo, obviously... Quatre and Trowa later. and a few others that haven't shown up and are surprises! :D  
  
I'll answer reviews at the end of the chappie, kay? ^^ Btw. this chappie is considerably less serious then the last one o_O;; I found the last one painful to write... too tense for meh. But then my humor might not be that great either x_x *cough* Slight Wufei bashing in this chappie, and OOCness on his part... But don't worry, I personally love Wuffy ^_^; Which makes him more fun to make fun of :D If I was going to write a serious fiction or one centering around Wuffykins... It would be in character ^^; Dun worry... I know he's not actually a jerk. :P  
  
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Heero awoke to a loud tapping noise from somewhere outside his room. Needless to say... He wasn't exactly leaping for joy at the prospect of being woken up. However, due to the fact that tapping and other loud noises were generally bad things (either Duo causing trouble or an enemy, neither of which were safe or uncommon) he forced himself to get up and investigate. Muttering assorted profanities, he stumbled out of his room and started to walk towards the front door of the safe house. However, he didn't get very far before being knocked out of the way by a blur of black and brown also headed for the front door.  
  
"Whoops, sorry Hee-chan! Didn't see ya there!" Duo yelled back at him, grinning like a maniac. Heero glared before grabbing his gun (the metal one for killing stuff, hentais...) and preparing to shoot whatever was in the doorway (if it was an enemy). Duo threw the door open, and there stood... a very mad Chinese pilot. Or, what might have been a Chinese pilot, because the figure in the door was soaked to the bone, had hair that looked like it had been electrocuted several times, and was carrying a large inside-out umbrella. For the first time that evening, Heero noticed it was pouring outside.  
  
Duo was the first to react... naturally, with a very kind and sympathetic manner.  
  
He burst out laughing.  
  
Heero, who had now completely identified the thing in the doorway as A-Not an enemy and B- Wufei, a fellow Gundam pilot, quickly shut the door and helped the soaked boy inside. Wufei glared at Duo and began cursing in Chinese, something which simply caused the braided boy to laugh even harder and collapse in a heap next to the door.  
  
Finally, after Wufei had worn himself out and run out of languages and curses and semi-graciously accepted the towel Heero had handed him did Duo finally recover from laughing and heave himself up from his position on the floor. Wufei glared at him.  
  
"Maxwell... I suppose you found that funny?" Duo blinked and looked as if he was going to keel over laughing again.  
  
"Nope! Actually... I found it... absolutely hilarious! The look on your face was PRICELESS!!" At this, he burst out laughing again.  
  
Wufei looked as if he was going to strangle him. Duo looked as if he were going to have a heart attack from laughing so hard. Heero looked very much like he was going to go back in his room and sleep... but decided against it, as that would have resulted in having to clean up quite a lot of blood. Blood's horrible on carpet, don't ya know. He kicked Duo, who paused in his laughing to look at him and quickly hopped up after seeing the familiar glare.  
  
Duo took a deep breath and counted to 10 while Wufei continued to glare (though it was quite difficult considering he still looked like a soaked sad little puppy) and let it out slowly.  
  
"Hiya Wuffers! Nice weather we're having, isnt it?" Heero gave him a look. Ignoring Duo's complaints and spontaneous bursts of laughter, he motioned for Wufei (who was still giving Duo a glare to rival even Heero's) to follow him.  
  
After Wufei was dried off, they sat down in the living room on the various chairs and Wufei explained he had been chased by several assorted OZ mobile suits and managed to lose them in the countryside surrounding the town. Having hidden Nataku in some trees away from where OZ would've looked, he had stumbled about for a while trying to find the designated safe house in the area. Duo had found all this extremely funny, and had cracked up laughing on several occasions (which resulted in the Chinese boy threatening to cut off his braid... which served to temporarily shut up the braids owner). Heero, being his normal soldierish self, noted down the information on the mobile suits and decided to see to it right then and there. He grabbed a gun and headed out the door, leaving Wufei and Duo alone.  
  
Not a smart thing to do.  
  
Or, for that matter, safe.  
  
After a few minutes of awkward silence and an occasional cough from Duo, Wufei stood up and announced he was going to his room to find something on the computer. He hopped up gracefully, and Duo quickly followed suite. The Chinese boy said nothing to this, but was quick to get to his room. He locked the door (and these doors have quite a few locks, fyi) and yelled out at the braided baka not to bug him. Whenever Duo didn't seem to be doing anything even slightly annoying, it usually wasn't a good thing.  
  
In this case... he was absolutely right.  
  
Duo, cackling happily, trotted into his room and flipped on a light. Wuffers certainly wasn't acting normal and he was going to find out why. And, if it was good... blackmail. Rummaging around in one of the cabinets, he quickly found what he was looking for. He grinned evilly and muttered to himself, "Lets see what Wuffykins is up to, eh? And if its something interesting. well, then we'll just have to see."  
  
Said Wuffykins was currently sitting in his room, going through his Inbox. One message in particular caught his eye. He smiled to himself and opened it. (no, its not Quatres message. our dear Wuffles has a much more interesting message to look at ^_-) Unfortunately, he was so preoccupied with reading it he forgot to pay attention to his surroundings.  
  
Also, most unfortunately, was the fact that the door, the locks, and Duo Maxwell were part of his surroundings. Foolish, foolish boy.  
  
Duo, being the master lock-picker he was, had quite easily gotten through the first 6 locks. There had been a bit more difficulty with the old Chinese one, which required not one but 4 hairpins, and the combination lock, which had required him to correctly find 17 different numbers. The ID recognizing one was easily fooled with one of old Wuffers' gloves, and the laser was deflected with a mirror. Finally, silently, Duo had managed to open the door just enough to get a periscope through, along with the little item he had picked up out of his room.  
  
Upon locating the silhouette of his fellow pilot, he focused the periscope on the computer screen and zoomed in (I want a periscope like that one O) and did his best to focus it. He squinted and read. Now then, this particular message was not really something that he was expecting, and after reading it had to reread it several times for it to register. Finally, it clicked who it was from and what it concerned. Duo blinked and grinned evilly. He held up the object from his room to the end of the periscope and pressed the button.  
  
Wufei was suddenly distracted from his quite lovely message by a click and flash from behind him. He whirled around... but there was no one there. The dragon glared. He would've sworn he had heard a camera... but then he realized no, it must have been his imagination. Besides... he had his beautiful, beautiful email, and everything was right in the world. He quickly typed a reply and did a little dance in his chair. Next Thursday. he looked at the Dungeons and Dragons calendar next to the computer. Injustice!! 9 whole days... Well, he'd just have to wait. He sighed, made a little grring sound and flopped down on the bed to take a nap.  
Down the hall, the single occupant of the room to the left was in an excellent mood. Long braid flying, he hopped down in his (black) chair in front of the computer and hooked up his precious camera to it. He whistled and snickered softly. This could be something to definitely lighten up the next 9 nine days.. oh yes, if he had read it correctly, the next 9 days would be fun. Specifically, the ninth. He chuckled; there would have to be some planning involved, of course, and perhaps enlisting the help of the other pilots. Quatre probably would say it was mean, but then agree if properly persuaded. If Quatre said yes, Trowa probably would, and Heero would agree if he made it mission-like enough. Speaking of Heero... Duo smiled. Hopefully, someone would have a decent answer to his question soon (all the others had replied... very strangely, with things like "'accidently' lock him and Heero in a dark closet together" and "stalk him (how original) until he realizes he loves you (cough...)". Needless to say... neither of these appealed to him, not to mention would result in him being shot.)  
  
A sudden noise outside the safe house brought Duo out of his thoughts. He poked a few buttons on his computer and was given a view of the security cameras outside the safehouse. Well, it wasn't an enemy, just Heero returning from his mission. Sheesh, it'd been what. 15, 20 minutes? Duo chuckled. "Hee-chan must be losin his touch! 15 whole minutes... tsk tsk. Bad perfect soldier, bad!" He laughed to himself and skipped out of the room and out the front door, ignoring the fact it was practically pouring out. Naturally, Heero completely ignored the rain and probably couldn't care less if he was soaked.  
  
Unfortunately, even the Perfect soldier can't ignore a hyper, also soaked, and dancing Duo, particularly when being danced around.  
  
"I'm siiiiiiiiingin in the rain, just siiiiiiingin in the rain! What a glorious feeeeeelin I'm haaaaaaaappy again! I'm lauuuuughin at the clouds, So dark, up above... Doodeedoodeedoooooo! Lalala... I'm siiiiiingin, just singin in the raaaaain!"  
  
Heero coughed. "Duo... Do you know half the words to that song?" Duo paused in his singing enough to look at him.  
  
"Maybe, maybe not... but hey, what difference does it make, eh Hee-chan? Come on, sing along!" He grinned and started singing again. Heero resumed his normal glare and continued to trudge to the house. For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling there was something that he couldn't remember, something from before he fell asleep. All mission, he had been contemplating it. There was something... something he was forgetting. Something important. Yes.  
  
Duo, noticing his comrade wasn't joining in, poked him in the side of the head. "IM SINGING. IN THE RAIN. AND SO ARE YOU." He continued to sing and poke. Poke. Sing. Poke. Poke. Heero blinked. Waiiiiit... That was it. Before he had fallen asleep, he had seen something about Duo... oh, right. The website. And it had said... had said... Kami-sama. Suddenly, it came back to him- the website and everything it had said. (We don't know why it took him so long, so... ha. He was distracted.) He snuck a glance at the singing boy, still dancing madly around him while singing and looking generally gleeful. Well, at least his little 'crush' didn't change his hyperness. Good, if Duo didn't change how he acted then he wouldn't have to worry about it as much. Well, until someone gave him an idea that he deemed worthy, anyway. Then... it could start to get interesting. Hn... that was an idea, actually... Hn.  
  
"Just siiiiiiingin in the rain!" Duo sang happily and latched onto Heero's arm. "Sing Hee-chan sing! Altogether now! WHAT A GLORIOUS FEEEEEEELIN..." Heero did his best to glare but ended up singing quietly anyway. Duo was contagious, and, most unfortunately, darned good at getting his way.  
  
And so it was that Duo and Heero trudged through the rain and up to the safehouse, soaked to the bone and singing joyously (well, Duo was joyous, anyway. Heero was..uh.. Heero.). Naturally, it didn't register to either of them that there were cameras around the safehouse-broadcasting straight to the colony where a certain 5 scientists were watching and laughing drunkenly, or the fact that Wufei was recording it for future amusement. Nope, who cares if it was being broadcast all the way to Zechs and Treize via satellite? No one. Actually, under normal circumstances this would have occurred to Heero, however... he was a tad too absorbed in remembering exactly what had been put on the site to think about how much this would ruin his Perfect Soldier rep (and boy would it once those tapes got to Dorothy and Relena, plotting evilly in their little pink and gold PJs). And Duo... well, Duo didn't care. He was in the rain, singing and dancing, having a good time, and actually getting Mr. I'ma-kill-you to WILLINGLY sing along.  
  
Life was good.  
  
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Heh, was kinda lazy on the last singing part u.u Grammer may be really off, if it's too much I'll redo it in the morning. Determined to finish this chapter, got 3 hours of sleep last night... *nods off and drools all over keyboard*  
  
The rain/singing thing was inspired by a chat I had a few days ago, and I just didn't get to write it. Now then... I will give a cookie to anyone who can half accurately predict who/what/anything about the e-mail Sir Wuffit got. Hehe... *cackles* I know D I just have to figure out what Duos doing about it o.o This story has no plot. Lalala... well, it does sorta! So ha.  
  
Reviews!!  
  
Wow @_@ I got 22 reviews!!! X_X! On one chapter... hopefully this one'll live up to it? O.o;; In order from when they came.  
  
LightofHope- Yees ^^ So cute! Though I find when it comes to cuteness, Quatre and Trowa take the cake -^^-  
  
LB- Glad to know theyre in character, I spose o.o; Hee-chan may be a weeee bit more OOC in this and later chapters so uh... sorry ^^; And as for the response Duo actually will choose... well, you're going to have to wait and see D  
  
Yoko Blade: *nodnod* FOREVER! Hurrah! :D  
  
Kawaii Kai (lol): Yay for the kawaiiness! ^^  
  
... : But of course :D  
  
Rei- I made someone laugh!! :D!!!!!! *does a Joyous jig (dun ask ^^; chat room... thing)  
  
Crazzybanana- Weeeeelll since Heero has no clue what he feels (how would he know? O.o hes emotionless... er, supposed to be.) we cant really be sure yet, ne? But since this is a 1x2 fic... Something tells me he will ^^;  
  
Silver Angel- Heh, I try to make my grammar and spelling as decent as possible (so many wonderful fics are chock full of spelling and grammatical errors @@;) so... glad it seems well written ^^;  
  
Rain- Thanks ^_^; I put myself down a lot, just cuz... I don't like my art or my writing that much, so I tend to do that a lot x.x; Although, with the art... It really, really deserves it x_X; Hn.  
  
Wouldntyouliketoknow- Thanks ^^ I originally thought it might set things off a bit too fast, with Heero already knowing Duos feelings instead of finding out later.  
  
Bakaneko- Will do.  
  
Karma Strike- Hn, well, honestly I think the whole thing of changing the Gundam Pilots genders and whatnot is delightful fun... but slightly overused. However, you already decided, soooo... it doesn't really matter ^^  
  
Rei Tenjou (o.o zero life/birth? If I'm not mistaken u.u): uh... I'll finish when its over? *sweatdrop*  
  
Kat: *hides box of matches behind back* no Mrs teacher... these are... pencils o.O you write with them... *cough* Yes, we do D And I will get it to happen! I will! BWAHAHAHA. 1x2 forever! ^^  
  
Dia: o_o;; Kay.. Well, I dont actually HATE any of em ^^ Tea... bothers me. Mai amuses me, and has a cool attitude. Rebecca amuses me to no end, although her voice does get annoying. I used to hate Meilin, but then I saw the subbed version of the second movie and she wasn't evil anymore. Also, I'm in the middle of trying to figure out which one I prefer, EriolxSyaoran/ElixLi or SyaoranxSakura x.x;;; I mean... I support Li and Sakura soooooo much since they are just SO cute... and in the series and movies they are sooo adorable... but then Syaoran and Eriol do make an unbearably cute couple too ^^; I don't know. I really don't. I guess... I like em both :D  
  
Sev-chan: Hn, well depends on what library. To put it bluntly, all the libraries around here suck. They have an awful collection of fiction, most of which are waaaaaaay below the level of anyone who actually would bother to read one. They have horrible taste in books @_@ Such dumbness! Need more fantasy x.x; So... set only the libraries which are lacking in decent reading aflame (plus, that library is PART of my school D kill two birds with one stone, ne?)  
  
Belittled Muse: If I get any flames... I'd be happy to ^_^ Thanks!  
  
Haile: Will do.  
  
Wing Gundam/Zero: o.o frightening?  
  
Lemon-chan: Yessir! ^^ (note: I call everyone sir x.x just to make it known I don't think youre male.)  
  
Sabe: Ee! Spiffy! ^^  
  
Once again... Thanks sooooo much to everyone who reviewed!! And I am sooooo sorry this took so long to get out... Promise the next chappie wont be quite as long a wait, kay? ^^; Ja ne! 


	3. This chapter is boring

Chappie 3  
  
Holy mother of hey ho o_O;; Look at me. I'm Bob D. Girl, bubblegum priestess, and I can't update within less then a month! Hell, I can barely make it within b 2 /b months! *dances* Go me! Woo! Mmkay, I suppose you all want an excuse list? Here we go... School was a hellion, as it always is towards the end of the year.... Went through a week long angst spree, so couldn't write any then (as I would've ended up killing off two or more of them in a few minutes)... Sick for a week... Playing DDR (*huggles new PS2 ^^*) Soo... I'll answer reviews (currently at 36 O_O) at the end of the chappie, 'kiedokie? I think... in this chappie we'll find out what exactly was in that strange, unidentified email (UEM o.o! *gasp, point, bravely run away*).  
  
Did I mention today, the 30th, is my birthday? No? ^___________^ IT IS! Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to meeeeeee :D:D *dances* I got a new DDR from my parents, and then my b-day party's tomorrow at Laser Quest ^-^  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. No. I don't. It's a problem... but, unfortunately, an ongoing one. *sigh...* I own 2 artbooks (so pretty :D), a soon to be lovely pajama poster (Duo and Heero in pajamas... x3... but its not actually yaoi :P Pity.), and... a whole lotta pictures I've printed off my compie. Come to think of it... for those, I own the paper and ink. Gwah... I don't own the pictures either! Another problem. I don't own the song 'Shooting Star' (which is quite pretty, from DDR... dl it, yes?)  
  
Warnings: To all you unobservant people out there... this story contains SHOUNEN AI! YAOI! TWO GUYS! In luuuuv...Being kissy 'n stuff. Isnt it just marvelous? ^^ Yeess... As stated last chapter, by the time this story is done it will, almost positively, have shoujo ai (two girls being kissy together :D) so you'll have to deal with that too. Pairings include Heero/Duo, (duh...) Trowa/Quatre, and a few others... one of which will, most likely, be revealed or at least highly hinted at by the end of this chapter. (Hint: It has to do with Wuffers' email last chapter! ^.^) At least a little bit of OOCness on almost everyone's parts.  
  
I finally saw Endless Waltz! :'D the end... so sad... but so perfect...Heero... he ran...he ran again... *is still in a slight daze* Ooh, on a related note to that :D and the whole running thing... This is a GORGEOUS story, as is all of her fanfiction... she's an AMAZING writer, and her stories always flow and are immensely full of feeling. ^_^ Go read them!  
  
Soooo.. On with the chappie!  
  
Oh, and I'm raising the rating ._.; I know I'm going to have to eventually, what with the few innuendos I can't resist throwing in and whatnot... So, if anyone wonders, even if it doesn't seem PG-13ish yet, it probably'll get there.  
  
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Duo skidded across the wet pavement, singing happily. Fortunetely for him, he managed to miss Heero and stop a few inches from the safehouse door. Heero sighed as Duo deactivated the security, threw the door open and hopped inside. Duo and his never-ending energy... You'd have thought he was made of caffeine. The Japanese boy walked into the front hall and shut the door behind him. Duo grabbed a towel and threw one at his comrades head. He looked at his braid, now soppy, and made a rather adorable pouty face.  
  
"Heeeeeee-chan! My hair's all messed up! It's your fault..." Heero glared at him.  
  
"Baka. Your reasoning eludes me, and as you're the one who came out in the rain in order to annoy me, I don't honestly see what your problem is."  
  
Duo continued to pout. "Fiiiiiiiine... But somehow, I bet it's your fault. (A/N: o_o; Sounds exactly like me.)" Heero sighed and began to dry his hair, doing his best to ignore Duos whining. Finally, Duo got tired of it and hopped off to take a shower.  
  
Upon hearing Duo shut the door to the bathroom (meaning it was safe), Wufei walked down the stairs. "Yuy, do we have any major missions next Thursday?" Heero pondered this for a second.  
  
"Not yet. Why do you ask?" Wufei looked temporarily put back. If the hallway had been lit, Heero might have noticed the faint blush appear on his cheeks.  
  
"Because... Um... Well, if we do, I may not be able to go." Heero scowled.  
  
"Missions are first priority, Chang. What, exactly, do you have to do that's more important?" The blush on Wufei's face became more prominent, and he stuttered a bit.  
  
"W-well..." Heero gave him a look.  
  
"Well...?" Wufei regained his composure and glared.  
  
"None of your beeswax, Yuy! The point is, if we have any missions it'll be up to you and the other three to complete them, alright?" Heero gave him a searching look.  
  
"You're jumpy enough it's probably important." He looked carefully at the nervous pilot, who withdrew a bit from the penetrating gaze. He opened his mouth to further question him.  
  
"Heeeeeey Hee-chan! Where's the soap?" Duo materialized at the top of the stairs in a black towel (A moment to visualize... Mmkay.) "Hey, Wuffers! Did you steal the soap? Geesh, you've only been here, what, half an hour? You've already managed to screw up the safehouse!" He shook his head, apparently not noticing the death glare from the other pilot. "Just can't have a moments peace, can we..." Wufei fumed, but Heero gave him a look. That particular look said something along the lines of, 'If you tackle him now, that towel will fall down and you will see something you'll probably be happier not seeing.' Fortunately, it didn't add that after seeing the website part of Heero's mind was saying, 'Maybe we would like to see it...' Thankfully, it was a very small part.  
  
"Maxwell..." Wufei said through gritted teeth, "I did not steal your soap. I simply took it from the shower to use by the sink, where it originally was. If you had looked four feet from the shower, you would not be here right now. Now, go back to the bathroom, finish your shower, and put on some clothes. Please." Duo blinked and looked at the towel.  
  
"Oh yea! Aww, you don't like this towel? Should I... get rid of it?" Wufei looked momentarily panicked.  
  
"Nono, that's alright. Just go back to the bathroom." Duo grinned and turned towards the bathroom door. He walked in and shut the door, though not before 'accidentally' kicking his towel up a wee bit too high. Wufei glared at the door, looking somewhere between repulsed and frightened. Suddenly, he swung around to look at Heero, still watching the whole scene with mild interest. He glared.  
  
"Yuy, I don't know how you put up with him." Heero, a bit surprised at this, could only shrug slightly. He just... did.  
  
With one final 'Injustice!', Wufei stomped down the hall to his designated room and shut the door. Heero sighed. Getting Wufei and Duo to co-exist peacefully was always an interesting task... but, a necessary one. He walked briskly back to his own room and shut the door quietly behind him. He took a moment to admire the sparrow drawing before sitting back down in front of his laptop and flipping up the lid, then hit the on switch.  
  
It only took a few seconds for the little computer to click to life, as it was a very expensive computer (and a very arrogant one, particularly with it's super shiny coat of black), but it seemed like an eternity to Heero. All the sudden, the website seemed like the only important thing around. To him, it was one of the more infuriating things around... having to sit and watch the little computer and its stupid blue screen, slowly loading file after file. Admittedly, there wasn't actually that much on that particular laptop (the last one had been blown up, not in a battle but by Duo making an attempt to rewire it to make it so that every time it started it said 'All your base are belong to the God of Death!'. This had resulted in Heero coming closer to shooting him then ever before. Luckily, Quatre had stopped him before he did anything serious.), however... it was still enough to annoy the usually stoic bishounen. He glared slightly at the computer and picked up the sparrow sketch again, once more admiring its simple beauty. It all seemed to fit together a lot better now, Duo's reason for giving him the picture, his never-failing friendship and kindness... that one website had made quite a few things clear, clearer then they'd ever been.  
  
By this time, the laptop was fully loaded and patiently awaiting the various passcodes Heero had installed on it (mainly to keep Duo from fiddling with it.). Heero, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice its rapid beeping. Instead, he continued to concentrate on the picture, tracing every line, carving every pencil mark into his mind. Interestingly enough, he wasn't even truly aware of what he was doing. For the second time that evening, he found himself going over everything, trying to piece together all that had happened even since he and Duo first met (*cough* Duo shot him... *cough*).  
  
All the sudden... An immense sense of deja vu occurred to everyone, and a chorus of, "STOP REFLECTING YOU JERK AND GET TO THE GOOD STUFF!" echoed through the air. Heero, lightning fast reflexes as lightning fast as the name suggests, spun around, hand on his gun (for Kamis sake, NOT THAT ONE. -_-;;;). He blinked. 'Hn... could've sworn I heard something... Guess it was just Wufei yelling at Duo again...'  
  
He turned back to his laptop and automatically checked his mail. No missions... Probably a good thing, as he'd have more time to try and figure out the new turn of events with his comrade if he didn't have to run off to some random corner of the planet, killing things as he went. Nope, and... He checked twice to make sure. Well, so far Wufei had certainly been lucky... He seemed pretty anxious about whatever big important thing he had the upcoming Thursday... Heero frowned. Something serious enough to keep from his fellow pilots, but it couldn't be too serious or he'd need backup. Perhaps it had nothing to do with the Gundams? No, that wasn't like him... He'd never put anything in front of what he believed was justice, and at the moment the war was his top priority. So, it had to be something not involving mobile suits, but still having to do with the war. The tricky part would be getting past the Chinese boys defenses enough to get even a hint of what was coming. (Yes, he has been magically distracted from the website by this o_O I don't know why.)  
  
His thoughts were rather suddenly interrupted by the door bursting open and Duo dancing in, singing 'Shooting Star' at the top of his lungs. "Like a shooting star, cross the midnight sky... Hee-chan shall come out of his room and eat with us toniiiight!" Heero shut off his e-mail program and gave him a glare that, if aimed at a normal person, would have sent them running for the hills. Duo, however, was unfazed and quite used to his friends looks by now. "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-chan! Got any new missions, hm?" Heero grunted a no and shut the cover of his laptop with a thump. After finishing one more chorus, the American grinned at him and skipped out of the room, still singing happily. Heero glared after him until the door was shut, then got up and flexed the kinks out of his muscles with a groan.  
  
Suddenly, something occurred to him... If there was anything interesting going on with Wufei, Duo, being the curious (nosy *cough) person he was bound to know something about it. He snooped around enough for something like this to have come to light, soooo... After dinner, he'd have to use a few of his hacking skills to try to find out anything extra on the internet, then perhaps he'd ask Duo if he knew anything about it.  
  
After locking the door (several times, and these weren't the 'simple' locks Wufei used... these would require a helluvalot of hacking to get through) Heero made his way to the kitchen/dining room where Duo and Wufei were already sitting and eating (or, in Duo's case, inhaling) rice and some sort of pasta. Duo's gaze, though somewhat concealed, quickly leapt up to rest on him as he made his way to the table. Almost instinctively, a completely nonchalant expression settled on Heero's features and Duo looked back at his angel-hair, appearing slightly put down. Heero sighed, made a mental note of it, and reached for the rice.  
  
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By the way... I saw Holes, the movie, and... if you've seen it... I kept bursting out laughing in certain spots, and only one of my friends knew why I was laughing. If you see it, and figure out why I was laughing... ISN'T THAT HILARIOUS? XD! I swear XD That was so... freaking funny. :X Dear Kami... ^^;;;;; *shakes head* Anyway...  
  
Saw X-2 also... THAT MOVIE ROCKS! O_O!!! PHOENIX!! PHOENIX!! *Chant* Wooooo! Can't wait for the next one... Phoenix! XD Yes. Don't like what they did with Kurt, though o_O; I love the Evo Kurt *huggles him* but... I just dun like the movie one as much, too... religious for me. o_x Bweh, anyway ^_^ Ye must see it! Tis awesome, yes. :D  
  
Reviews!!  
  
The dark ones lover (o_o): Yup :D But thats why we love 'im!  
  
LB: Meh, unfortunately my writing skills aren't anywhere in the same dimension as they would need to be to have completely canon characters o_x; Eventually, I'll be able to keep within how I view them... But in my fanfiction, particularly with Heero, Wufei, and Duo, I tend to get a wee bit off (cough... more than a wee bit )  
  
Tarasaturn: I will :P  
  
Tori Wing: ^^ I MADE ANOTHER PERSON LAUGH! *dance*  
  
White Destiny: XD Weeell.... as for the girl part, it depends on who you ask... As for the milk jug... O_o HOW DID YOU KNOW!?! *die* Milk jugs have no gender o.o; Or do they? I met a very nice one once... Her name was Suzy o.o; I dont know if she was a she though... It's a tad tricky to tell, ne?  
  
Cryearthstearsfalltou: *blink...* Ok? O_o;  
  
Aya: Arigato ^^  
  
Rika: Arigato again! ^^  
  
Cradlerobber Speedo-kun (XD): Yea, like I said ^_^;; I adore Syaoran/Eriol, but... I've worshipped Sakura/Syaoran for its adorableness and perfectness since far before I even knew what yaoi was and they were 'Li' and 'Sakera' :X So if I was going to completely drop one.. It'd be Eriol and Syaoran x-X; I'll just keep lovin' them both ^_^ Plus ^____^ I learned about yaoi from Gundam Wing, and for a reeeeeally long time I had never seen a shred of official stuff. Ya know the phrase 'Everything I know I learned from ___?' Well, everything I know (er, knew.. I downloaded the episodes :D) of Gundam Wing I learned from the internet. :P I read a whoooole lotta fanfiction before even being able to tell which character was which, which probably contributed to the random OOCness of some of my fics.  
  
Eternal_Darkness: o_O;; Well... *hides* Its sooner then it could be?  
  
Gokugirl: WOO! XD See, thats some enthusiasm ^^;  
  
Lady Pheonix: Uh... it's sooner then it could be o.o;;  
  
Shinikami Dragon: I'll try o.O  
  
Super Poodle: XD See, _thats_ a fun review to read ^^;  
  
Thank you SOSOOOOOOOO much for the reviews, and my most humble and sorrowful apologies for the HUMUNGOUS delay in updates o_x;;;;;;;;;;; But, since it's summer... I should get quite a bit more done with it, ne?  
  
Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  
  
P.S. Happy birthday to meeee! XD 


	4. Duo has a plan or something

Chappie 4  
  
Oh, ph33r me. It's been...three months. I am such a dumbass. -_-; I feel sad for myself. Had summer school, rented FFX, had summer band... Going to PA tomorrow, so HAD to get this chappie out. Also, been playing Sims like mad (just finished the Peacecraft house, consisting of Relena, Dorothy, Noin, and Sally :D Yuuuuuuuri!) and Heero is now a 6th level hacker. ^^ Huzzah!  
  
Oh, and X_x ARGH! Apologies for any of you who were like 'o.o Hey, she actually updated! *click*' or 'Hm, this looks interesting...' and either noticed that the first chapter was, in fact, the third, or that this chapter kept screwing up. -_-;;;;; ARGH. Hopefully this will be fixed. ^^;  
  
Disclaimer: *long, tired sigh* I don't own Gundam Wing... I don't own Heero, or Duo, or even dear Wuffers... I don't own shounen ai; I don't own Outlook Express... I own the lovely lil cafe mentioned in here, though, and I own the girl at the hotel (ehehe.. Gomen, but technically... She's me ^^; I needed a chara for it...) Even at my birthday party (In which I got 2 Chobits, Love Hina Vol.4, and GW Blind Target (Which I'll discuss at the end of the chapter ._.;), doubling my manga collection :D) I didn't receive any of the aforementioned. *sigh* Life sucks, ne?  
  
Warnings: Let's state the obvious, shall we? ^_^; This fanficcie has shounen ai. Amazing, ne? That means... *drumroll* Two guys, who are in love! :D:D GAAAAAAAAY! Although I'm not too fond of the term itself (its a rather annoying word, good concept, stupid word), it is, basically, gay. :P A bit of shoujo ai, eventually... Some innuendos, I'm sure, and minor language. Yes? Pairings are... 1 x 2 (naw, really?), 3 x 4, 5 x ? :D you find out almost for sure this chapter!, and then the shoujo ai I might work in (look in my profile and I'm sure you can figure them out :D) Oh, and once more... Relena is going to be a completely nice, kind character in this story AS SHE IS MEANT TO BE. She is NOT a stalker, she is not a pink obsessed little bizznatch, and she is a wonderful character with a wonderful heart. So there. :P Deal with it.  
  
Argh X_x; I put the note but not the link x.x It looked like I was saying 'this is a gorgeous story' about my own thing O_x; NOT WHAT I MEANT, FOLKS! Aieeee! Do a search for Ryoko no Shinigami and read the story titled 'Let me go sometime' That one! U_u;;;; Gee, don't I look modest x_x; Uhm... yes. Go read that one, One Shot, and the Art of becoming Zechs Merquise. Yay!  
  
Oh, and ONE MORE THING! I don't honestly believe this fic could ever, ever have happened. I don't believe in this, as I don't think (heck, everyone KNOWS) that Heero and Duo could not have possibly done anything past slight crushes or one night stands at all during the war, or even until after EW. It just didn't happen. Nope. However, with the plot that appeared in my head, it was necessary for the fic to take place during the series. I have no idea when, for the above reasons, though probably when they were still on Earth as they seemed to have a bit more free time then. Mmkay? In fact, I suppose all yaoi fics that take place during the war (be it 1x2 or any other coupling) are actually AUs. Hm.  
  
Anyway *cough* Now that I have all sorts of various rants off my chest.. To the chapter! ^_^;  
  
**  
  
Dinner was relatively uneventful. Wufei himself was seemingly even more distant then usual, and Duo looked slightly more evil. Heero himself, in fact, was rather doubtful as to which one it would be wiser to keep an eye on... In the end, he decided to simply glance at them occasionally and remain seemingly unawares to any sort of tension that might be hovering about. Naturally, Duo inhaled his food whilst still managing to chatter endlessly, and was done several minutes before the other, quieter bishounen. Heero tactfully chose not to mention the photos from Quatre, lest Duo realize the chance that he had seen The Website... Much too early for that to happen. Wufei was the first to leave, muttering a quick 'Thank you' before setting his plate silently on the counter and walking back to his room. Duo grinned at him with a rather 'I know something you know but won't tell meeeee' look, which, to Heero, backed his theory that Duo must have found out something... Something, no doubt, that he certainly was NOT supposed to know.  
  
A few minutes after Wufei left, Heero too picked up his plate, bowed a thank you, and left without a word. He could, however, sense Duo's gaze lingering on him for nearly a minute as he walked carefully to his room and shut the door... Although it certainly could have been his imagination, as merely seconds after he safely behind the door he could hear Duo getting up and humming 'Shooting Star'.  
  
He noiselessly slid into the office chair and switched on the laptop. He pondered. OZ would probably be the most likely place to find something, as Wufei would never do anything outside of the mission... After all, no matter how important anything else was, Wufei above all viewed the war as top priority... No way he'd go off and do otherwise. Duo had even had lectures from the Chinese pilot about 'Not being dedicated enough to the mission' and how it was 'Top priority, far more important than anything.. Including collecting rare stones, yes...' Even the lectures alone were enough to make Heero nearly positive it would have something to do with OZ. Once an Internet window had been brought up, the skilled hacker quickly broke into the OZ site and reached the next weeks mission plans. '... Nani?' He frowned. Odd... There were all the usual missions and such, attacks, taking over various pacifist nations, etc, but... Unless the information on the site was incorrect, Treize himself would not be present at any of them. The spandex clad boy stared.. Surely Wufei wasn't going to challenge the OZ leader to ANOTHER duel...? Hoo, that would NOT be a good thing.  
  
After much prying and annoying, Duo had managed to convince Trowa (though it was mainly the persuasion on Quatre's part) to tell him and the other 3 about Wufei's first encounter with Treize. If what Trowa had said was true, Treize had apparently spared Wufei's life on little more than a random whim, with the simple explanation of 'he would not kill... those who understood him.' Those had been Trowa's exact words, and Heero could tell he was telling the truth. With further prodding (and Quatre looking immensely worried), Trowa had also revealed that the only other thing that Wufei was infuriated at Treize's refusal to complete the duel and had gone back several times to either ask for a rematch or to ask for death. Even the circus actor himself simply knew the information from a few brief conversations with the Chinese pilot while attempting to figure out where he had kept disappearing to.  
  
Heero grimaced. Wufei seemed to be simply PLEADING for death, attempting to fight an obviously more powerful enemy over and over. But then... Heero sighed, remembering his own past few suicide attempts. All of them.. All of them had asked for death more than a few times, and not all of them had been necessary. Well... No, Quatre certainly hadn't.. Which, Heero supposed, made sense... After all, the Winner heir had a family and home to go back to. Duo only had once or twice, and those had been times when he was merely seconds away from it anyway. But still... Duo didn't seem to want to die, something that puzzled Heero no end. He didn't have family, didn't have any place to call home... Nothing. Even after losing every single thing important to him, Duo had kept on being the same old Duo, full of life and energy. Heero had never had any of those things, but for that same reason he had never had to lose them. So.. Why did Duo, of all people, want to live?  
  
Heero could still feel the sharp pain in his cheek when Duo had slapped him, oh so long ago. It had been in their first face-to-face meeting after Heero's little exploding Seppuku, and Duo had certainly not been the usual, happy boy that Heero was constantly annoyed with. Indeed, that 'happy' boy's eyes had brimmed with unshed tears, and his pained voice had cracked more than once during the talk. Heero could still see him screaming till he was nearly hoarse, still hear the sorrow when Duo had finally quieted and said, in a voice thick with pain, "... I don't want... Anyone else close to me... Anyone at all... To die..." Heero hadn't known why he had done it, but... He promised something, that unhappy day, something he never would have thought he would say.  
  
He had promised to treat his life with value.  
  
It was a sad promise, in a way. Yet at the same time, it seemed to carry hope for both, and for the war. And, though he still didn't know why, he wanted to keep that oath.  
  
"You've got mail!!!!" his computer chimed, effectively startling him nearly out of his skin. He glared at it, and whilst muttering assorted profanities, clicked on Outlook Express. He scanned through his Inbox. '.... Relena...' Heero sighed and ran a hand through his uncombed hair. Relena Peacecraft was a constant source of controversy to him...On one hand, he loved her. He really did, that he was sure of, but... Not, probably, as she would have liked. More like a sister than a lover, or simply a best friend.  
  
He scanned through the e-mail quickly, and then reread it before jotting down some quick mental notes. According to the e-mail, he was to meet her in 5 days at a little cafe near Paris. The cafe, Caffe Delle Rose [1], was apparently a place that she and Milliardo had gone once or twice when they were younger. This wasn't the first time they had met at some odd little restaurant - Frequently they both found it necessary to get away from the war, and talking seemed to be the most successful way of doing so. Strange thing, though.. Their last meeting had been a bit awkward, with a slight layer of tension hovering around their table.  
  
For one thing, Relena had seemed to be studying him, a fact which in itself Heero found rather eerie. It was the same look she had given him when they had first met - the 'you have a secret and I want to know what it is' stare. Her eyes would somehow become... piercing, or more so then normal, and stare unblinkingly right into his, like she was trying to piece together his soul. It scared him a bit, to be honest. At the end of the day, they had parted, reluctant as always to get back to their respective roles, and still Relena studied him. Heero himself had quickly forgotten after being immediately set upon by a hoard of Mobile dolls, but it had since lingered around in his rare moments of quiet.  
  
He quickly typed the simple kanji equivalent of 'Nimnu Ryoukai' and hit send. She would understand, being the Vice Foreign Ministers daughter.  
  
That done, his thoughts reverted back to finding out exactly what Wufei was up to. He stood up and turned off the laptop, then glanced at the sparrow. Well... Whatever feelings that Duo felt for him... He could NOT let them get in the way of the Mission, or peace. He simply couldn't. That being settled, he walked carefully out of the room, redid the locks, and crept silently up the stairs and in front of Wufei's room. Judging by the slow, soft breathing from the inside, the rooms' occupant truly was fully asleep. Good. He then slowly walked to Duos' room.  
  
He knocked on the door 4 times, then tapped the doorknob, the secret knock that Duo had taught him in an attempt to stop accidentally opening the door to irate Chinese pilots. It was silent for a second, then, "Who is it?"  
  
"It's Heero, let me in." In a matter of seconds, the door had swung open quietly and Duo was grinning at him from the other side.  
  
"Hiyas, 'Ro, bit late to be bothering people... Need a glass of water?" Heero glared at the grinning boy before walking into the small room and shutting the door behind him. Duo motioned for him to take a seat before plopping down on the bed, apparently all ears.  
  
"Listen... I need to ask you about something.." To his surprise, Duo simply tilted his head questioningly but didn't say a word. "Er... Well, you wouldn't happen to know what important errand Wufei has next Thursday... Do you?" At this, Duo broke out into a huge, scheming grin.  
  
"Funny you should ask, Heero, funny you should ask..." Heero raised an eyebrow and Duo clacked his tongue at him. "Touchy business, Wuffles-san has next Thursday..." He chuckled at Heero's slightly confused expression. "Well, it's a good thing you brought it up. Listen, I need you, Quatre, and Trowa to meet me tomorrow, 14:00 hours sharp, in a reserved room at the Purple Nights Motel, in the next town over... Tell the girl at the front that the Shinigami invited you; she'll know who you are. I need to discuss Wuffles little agenda with the rest of the group, so we can decide on a game plan. Alright?"  
  
If Heero had been anyone else, he probably would have been slightly slack- jawed through most of Duos speech. As it was, he couldn't really think of much to say. Finally, he spoke up.  
  
"Who's the girl at the front?"  
  
"Old friend of mine, met her a few years ago back when she worked on G's ship... Saved me from some real rough spots, and knew a whole lot about the missions... More then me, actually, and even seemed to know about you and the others." He peered at Heero. "Ever meet a rather odd looking 14 year old with long brown hair and an unusual love of purple?" Heero shook his head, and Duo blinked. "Huh... Oh well, the point is.... Would you tell the others? You being Mr. Super Hacker, you have the best chance of being able to get an e-mail out without it being intercepted... By OZ or by Angry Chang." Heero sighed.  
  
"Mission accepted." He stood up to leave, and then had a sudden, albeit odd, inspiration. "Oh, and Duo..." Duo looked at him sideways from his position flopped out on the bed.  
  
"Hrm?"  
  
Heero cleared his throat softly, and speaking clearly but quietly, said, "Thanks.. for the sparrow picture, I mean. I never did tell you how much I like it... It's beautiful. Arigato."  
  
Duo blinked, looking adorably confused. Suddenly he broke into a huge grin, and nearly yelled, "WOO! The PERFECT SOLDIER said something like a...a... A COMPLIMENT! Er... Arigato means thank you, right?" Heero blinked, then reminded himself that while he was trained in English, Duo didn't have quite as much time as he did during his training. Hence Duo had simply picked up some phrases from Heero, and otherwise spoke in English.  
  
A ghost of a smile flitted across Heero's face once more. "It sure does. So yes... Thank you, Duo-kun, for the beautiful sketch." A real, unmasked smile somehow found its way across the normally seemingly emotionless pilots face, before he nodded a 'Good night' and walked out of the room, leaving a gaping American in his wake.  
  
*  
  
Said gaping American was stunned. After opening and closing his mouth several times, he finally managed out a "Gack???" Heero must have either been drinking or have a clone... He had smiled. A real smile, not a smirk, not a 'You're going to die in the next 30 seconds, were you aware?' grin.. A real, true, open smile, one without barriers. He had put down his mask.. In front of him.  
  
The only other time he had seen a truly open look like that cross the Perfect Soldiers face had been once when Heero had been escorting Relena back after they had disappeared for one of their constant and mysterious rendezvous. Those particular meetings bugged the Hell out of him... And it's quite a feat, bugging the Hell out of the Shinigami (pun intended). From what he had seen of them, they weren't meeting for the obvious reason - one Duo dreaded more than anything - but for something more serious. Seriousness hadn't always been his weakness... But that had been before Solo, before the Maxwell Church incident. Before... Before he had become the Shinigami, cursed to kill anyone who he possibly got close to.  
  
At the time, he had thought to himself that he would have KILLED to see that smile directed at him instead of Relena. But to get a real smile like that... He would have to be serious. For Heero to put down his barriers, Duo himself would have to do the same... And it was definitely not something he was ready to do, even if it would get him close to Heero.. Just for a second. He had been jealous, seeing Heero and Relena conversing quietly like that, like best friends without a care in the world but themselves.  
  
He sighed. He knew, deep in his heart, that if Heero truly loved Relena... Then there was nothing he'd be able to do about it. Heero had once told him to, "Live by his emotions." Coming from the Perfect Soldier, Duo had found it pretty funny at the time... Heero never acted upon his emotions, always cloaked them, yet here he was saying to live by them. Duo had laughed at made a remark about that, earning himself a look from both Heero and Trowa.... He did indeed wonder what the look from Trowa was for, but hadn't though much of it at the time.  
  
With one more sigh, he hoisted himself carefully from the bed to the chair, careful not to fall over and hit his head on the floor. It had happened before.. But Duo had superb balance, and within seconds was tilted around facing the computer, and ready to update his website. After all... If this didn't call for an update, nothing would.  
  
*  
  
The Perfect Soldier, having already easily encoded and sent out several e- mail detailing the rendezvous to the other pilots quickly typed in the URL for Duo's site. He blinked, suddenly a bit confused. Had he somehow mistyped the address? ...No, it was the right one... Duo had simply changed the index page's main picture. There was the familiar 'Welcome to da personal site of the Duo Maxwell, Shinigami Extraordinaire!', and then.. A photograph of Duo, an arm around Heero's shoulders and holding up a Peace sign, while he himself looked rather startled. But when was... Oh.  
  
So THAT was why Duo had asked Quat' to take their picture. Indeed. He relaxed slightly; Duo must have updated that evening.  
  
He clicked on the photograph and was immediately sent to the main page. He scrolled down and started slightly; the last update had apparently appeared less than a minute ago. What luck, Duo was updating even as he stared at the screen.  
  
Out of interest (and waiting for Duo to finish updating and get to sleep) he clicked on the 'Quizzes' page. He smiled slightly to himself... A 'Which of my Friends are You?' test. Might as well take it, even though he was pretty darn sure what he'd get (No dah.) He glanced through the questions. Pretty standard quiz questions.. Color, what would you do, foods, socialness, etc... Heero answered them easily, pausing on a few to try to match the answers with the other pilots.  
  
Oddly enough, although the other pilots (including Duo) were obviously included in the results, there was one extra result that he had absolutely no idea as to who it was. He could tell the ones about himself, though some of them he had difficulty figuring out (Duo, apparently, was far more perceptive then he seemed and had picked out things that even he was not fully aware of) but... This extra person, apparently rather naive and happy yet at times more intelligent then s/he seemed, was apparently someone that the braided boy was quite fond of. However, Heero noted, not as fond as the answers for himself appeared. Hn.  
  
Finally, he came to the last question. 'Which of these appeals to you most? A-Peace 2-Justice 3- A place to call home 4-Fun 5- What you believe 6- Closure'  
  
Heero stared. Closure.. Duo wanted closure. He shouldn't have been overly surprised, with all the shit in Duo's past, but after all that to still wish for a definite end... But it would be impossible.  
  
OZ could be blamed of the Maxwell Church, so they were working on that, but... then there was Solo. Duo's first friend, a boy a year or two older then him, and Duo's first true friend. Duo might not have revealed too much on the matter, but from what Heero had understood the two had been inseparable. With both of them war orphans and fighting for survival, it made sense that they could have depended on each other. That is... until Solo had been killed by a plague that had swept through the city, killing thousands and leaving Duo cradling his best and only friends' body.  
  
Closure.  
  
Something that no matter what, Duo could never have. He could never go back and tell Solo goodbye, or even avenge him. How could someone have true closure if there's nothing to blame, nothing to say or do?  
  
Heero, trembling slightly, hit the 'Beliefs' option and then the Submit button. Not surprisingly, he got himself as a result (though in this site, his name was 'Yuki' (probably one of the only Japanese names that Duo even knew) and although he was described as 'having some suicidal tendencies' it didn't mention 'usually while attempting to murder several hundred others in the process'. The main description, however, threw him the most... 'You, my friend, are an incredibly unusual person. You may act stoic and serious with some slightly suicidal tendencies on the side, but some people really can see right through you. You know? So look out for those people who can see you for what you truly are... A kind, caring person who simply needs to find passion, be it for something or someone. On the suicidal tendencies bit, you have a rather impulsive, violent streak, which scares the Hell out of those close to you. Lighten up and drop the mask, please, you may end up hurting someone more than you think.'  
  
Heero gaped.  
  
"Anou.. That was.. different.."  
  
...Surely.. Duo didn't actually believe that, did he? That he really was a kind, caring person, simply adrift? Surely he wasn't doing THAT good a job of fooling himself... He didn't think that... Did he? Was he that optimistic to think there was a person worth caring about in need of something more under the shell?  
  
Naw.  
  
Or... did he?  
  
**  
  
[1] Caffe Delle Rose means, obviously, Cafe of the Rose in Italian. It is a restaurant I made up a while back, and it shows up in a lot of my fanfiction, role-plays, etc. Plus, it will show up more then once in this story! :D Yay! And if I stole anyone's idea... o.o;;;;; I'm not aware of it.  
  
Okie, now about Blind Target... For those of you who haven't read it, it's rather infamous. If you're a diehard 1x2 fan... DON'T READ IT! X_x; Not only does it have a *gaspgasp* KISSY SCENE with 1xR (x_x;) but it also has a scene where Relena falls asleep on Heero's arm.. Who doesn't do a thing about it! *Multiple gasps*. Its not too good for 3x4 either ._.; And it seems to have forgotten that Catherine is Trowa's sister. U_u; Meh... Howevah ^^; I'm keeping the book, becaaaaause... It contains quite a bit of 2x5ness in it... And yes, folks x_X I've been turned into a 2x5 fan too. *sigh* All it took was 2 exceedingly well written fics (one was a lemon, so I had to use the wonderful 'Skippy the naughty' for it ^^; if you want the address for it, email me.. It is very good, though _;) the main one being which is HILARIOUS. Even if you're not a 2x5 fan... I recommend it muchly. *cough* Anyway ^_^; So, thats my rant on Blind Target... It is, however, well drawn, and very nice. :P You just have to be open minded when it comes to pairings.  
  
GO. SEE. PIRATES. OF THE. CARIBBEAN. It is your destinyyyyyy... Orlando... *___* Johnny.. And DAMN THAT ELIZABETH GIRL! -___-### Paula and I have decided to hunt her down and murder her. Bitch.  
  
BUT WHY IS THE DAMNED RUM GONE!!?!?! -.o!  
  
Reviews!!  
  
Couplekeeper: Few words, at times, are much more useful then many.  
  
Meowmix: Take off every pie, for great justice! D *munches on pie* sankyuu vewy much *licks fingers* ^^  
  
Cradlerobber Speedo-kun (I love your name to death. ^^;): ... GWAH!! Syaoran/Meilin... *keels over, twitching and muttering* Gwahaha.. I myself wasn't too terribly fond of Meilin x_X *twitch* However, I do see a possibility of her and Tomoyo, as they both gave up their love to let them be truly happy. ^^; Hrm.  
  
Jes: Yesh, X-2 = Kick assness. ... And whats this about '06??? O_O;; *dies* T_T I can't wait that looooong..  
  
Deadangel: Duo is a wonderful lil person, though terribly OOC for that last bit xD; So hence he likes singing Shooting Star... its a good song, ye must DL it.  
  
Kage Kitsune: Grgh, updating soon is definitely not my strong point.  
  
Jade Crescent: Few words keeps everyone somewhat farther from insanity, at times... I am living proof, one of far, far too many words. ^^;;  
  
Momo: ...; You baka, you didn't even finish it?? XP I'll kill you, you know! And um ._.;; NOT HEERO AND ZECHS!! *twitch* I read a Duo and Zechs once X-x;; Scarred me for life, it did! ._.; And yes, yaoi forever. :D Get a compie, you dork. P! AND ANGELINA KICKS AYUMI'S ASS! D  
  
Ryo Gin: We can pity eachother. :D ... Not like that. Oo;;;  
  
Mugs: Wufei's a Chinese name, Wu means five. XD So um, yes... And besides :P If he hadn't been named that, we wouldn't be able to call him fun things like 'Wuffles' and 'Woofiekins!'  
  
LB: OOCness eventually annoys me, and this chapter is the first one where I really got into putting them (or at least Duo ._.;) a bit more in character. *cough* So um, yes.  
  
Chibidark angel: YAY THANK YOOOOU! ^^ And um ; We'll see, ne? :D  
  
Little Princess: We'll see.. *cackle*  
  
Moonlightchic: Gweh, so sorry I never e-mailed you back about that x_x; But um ;; I had mentioned that my fic had actually been getting reviews and such, and erm Oo; It went from there, gomen ^^;; Thank you sooo much for offering though! :D  
  
Super Poodle: XD. Kick ass, dood. If I'm feeling overly angsty from angst fic overdose, I go read your review to myself. :3; Ehehe. Also, on your friends dad... O_O;;; Holy shit, thats like... It sounds like something that would be on a 'If someone does something that you feel uncomfortable with, you should tell an adult right away' tape that they play for you in Junior high' ;; That would terrify me.  
  
Okies, now then, I made a pact with myself to update this once every two weeks from now at least till Christmas break, when there may be a pause for semester finals and such. Now I must send this to des and wobble to bed... Before I fall asleep on my keyboard. Again. 


	5. Heero wanders off, and Duo meets an old ...

Took me longer to get out this chapter ; But... I beat FFX, and am fully prepared for FFX-2 :9! Wai... Cried at the ending... ;_; So sad... But everyone says that X-2 has a very happy lil ending, so ^^;... I'm too cheap to order the import, so I'm stuck waiting with everyone else.  
  
So... O_o;; You may have seen the review from Des, my beta... Yes, that's him. -_o; Should I kill him? Hm...? Oh, and for anyone interested, I posted a short lil 3x4 ficlet, just one of those ten-billion molecule sized little Quatre/Trowa ficcies that are barely even shounen ai at all ;; But I couldn't resist the plot bunny, so...  
  
Well, uh... On with the chapter! :D;  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Heero had woken up unusually late that morning. At first, he had panicked - the thought of being captured or drugged quickly aroused him from his slightly drowsy state. He grunted, senses fully alert, but relaxed when he realized that he had simply fallen asleep at the computer. He sighed, but started once more when he glanced at the clock.  
  
According to his alarm, it was nearly nine in the morning. A quick glance out the window confirmed its accuracy. He hadn't slept to late since... Well, since never - or as far as he could remember, anyway. It took him a few seconds to recall when he had fallen asleep, and was surprised to recall drowsing off around 1ish - not long after his meeting with Duo.  
  
The perfect soldier shook his head. He had never slept so long or so late; it was considered irresponsible by Doctor J and completely against every single bit of his training. It was weird, and rather it was a good or bad sort of weird Heero couldn't quite put his finger on. However, in the end he decided it could wait - he was hungry, and needed a shower after being asleep so long.  
  
After dragging himself in and out of the shower he became much more awake, and by the time he had reached the kitchen was fully alert and ready for any of Duos pranks - on himself, or on Wufei. Unfortunately, Wufei, after having been a victim of one of the rather notorious tricks, had been known to recruit Heero as an establisher of justice. However, upon his approach Heero could sense no sign of either of them - no constant chatter or occasional irritated growl. From what he could tell, the room was empty. He opened the door cautiously and noticed a small piece of paper on the table, lifting slightly in the breeze from an open window. 'Heero,' the note read, in surprisingly legible English, 'I'll be gone for a few hours... Remember, noon at midnight. - Duo M.'  
  
It didn't take any time at all to decipher Duo's meaning; at noon, he was to meet him at the Purple Nights Motel. The first part shouldn't have surprised him, but it did nevertheless; it hadn't quite occurred to him that whatever the Shinigami had planned might actually need a few hours preparation.  
  
If he had been anyone else, he might have shivered.  
  
He ate a bowl of Cheerios (Duo had bought them, saying they were 'healthy! Yumyum!' - though all of them knew it was just to give him an opportunity to go 'Hey, Heero! Guess what? I lowered my cholesterol!' every time he ate breakfast), and then realized that Wufei had disappeared as well. However, he had a pretty good inkling as to where the Chinese boy could have disappeared to; neither of the Gundams were missing, and he hadn't been in his room...  
  
That left only one other place.  
  
Heero stood up, stretched, and silently set his dishes in the sink. He then made his way outside into the 'backyard' and to the woods, following a seemingly invisible path. He paused, though, at a small clearing, surrounded by trees and a calmly flowing brook. It was a peaceful, content little setting... Including the young man, sitting silently next to the stream in quiet meditation.  
  
Heero approached on noiseless feet; Duo had concluded that there were two strategies to entering any of Wufei's private training dojos. The first was to speak to him directly from a short distance away, as one might approach a horse or other large animal. The second was to approach completely unnoticeably and arouse him from his meditation gently.  
  
There was one other way that all the pilots shied from if they could avoid it; one could simply stand right next to him and startle him by stepping on a twig, kicking him, or anything equally ignorant. As with a horse, the penalty for startling Wufei could be rather high.  
  
Heero himself preferred the first option, as did all the pilots. The second one took far too long, and even he didn't like to startle the boy if at all possible. He stopped a half dozen meters away, and said in a clear, emotionless voice, "Chang."  
  
The figure stirred, and within less then a second Heero found himself with a sharpened katana at his throat. However, he didn't have the title 'Perfect Soldier' for nothing... The stoic pilot didn't flinch in the slightest.  
  
"Yuy," Wufei acknowledged as he slowly lowered his weapon. "Something I can do for you, or are you perhaps here to train as well?" Heero shook his head.  
  
"You seemed rather anxious, so I checked with Doctor J and Instructor O. You're all clear for Thursday, however..." He eyed Wufei carefully, who seemed to be growing slightly paler by the second. "O sounded curious as to why you asked. I told him I knew nothing, of course, but I do agree that he was right in asking."  
  
Wufei gave him a level stare. "Thank you for your concern, but I'm afraid that as Maxwell would say... That's none of your beeswax." Without even realizing it, Heero could imagine Duo finishing with 'So get you of my damn hive before I kill you. Bastard.' He smiled imperceptibly to himself.  
  
Heero sighed. "Listen, Wufei," Wufei looked slightly surprised at the use of his first name, "At the request of Doctor J, I'm supposed to be relatively civil and sportsmanly to you and the other pilots. I simply want a clear, straightforward answer in order to confirm the safety - and I use the term loosely - of one of my comrades. Therefore, I'd like to know where you're going." It was a relatively unusually long answer for him, particularly since under normal circumstances he was breathtakingly direct.  
  
Wufei shot him a dark glare and muttered something in Chinese under his breath. The black eyes rose to meet Heero's cobalt blue, and the other pilot thought he could see a slight bit of apprehension floating in them. "I am not on a mission concerning any of you, and that's all you should be worried about. Besides, you're not quite one to talk about telling where you're going or what you're doing anyway, so I see no reason for me to be any different. Now, either stay and spar or go back to the safe house."  
  
Heero sighed to himself. He hadn't really expected to learn anything particularly useful from the encounter; Wufei, at times, was far more direct than any of the other pilots - himself included. Not to mention the fact that Wufei had a sharp yet graceful tongue, a remnant of his former days as a scholar. Duo had commented that Heero, Treize, and Wufei should all get together for a 'Big Words Meeting' over a cup of tea... Not mentioning, of course, the fact that when needed he could be incredibly quick-witted and perhaps outmatch any of the other pilots in a debate. Still, for reasons unbeknownst to anyone, Duo oftentimes chose to appear ignorant; probably, Heero guessed, another part of his many sided mask.  
  
He turned back to the house and started walking silently towards it. However, after getting out of Wufei's line of sight he quickly turned and began to walk to the left. The ground, still damp from the previous nights rain, didn't make a sound.  
  
After a few minutes of walking, he reached his destination; an apparently empty clearing in the woods, surrounded by trees and a rather rocky hill. A quick voice command instantly revealed the hill for its identity; Wing Zero, Heeros own little private clubhouse and most reliable partner.  
  
Well, he though, frowning slightly, one of his two most reliable partners. When it came down to the wire, Duo could actually be pretty useful.  
  
He hoisted himself up and into the cockpit effortlessly and closed the hatch. A few more voice commands, and the system sprung to life and up into the atmosphere. He slowly leaned back and absorbed the view engulfing the Gundam - he had always found an odd sort of freedom in watching the trees shrink, the safe house they were assigned to disappear, and the moon and sky growing all around him. It was peaceful there, in the high reaches of the sky, where no one would go and nothing would interrupt. It was a place that seemed to exist strictly for him, or others like himself... People who didn't seem to quite know where they were going, or why. People... Who were lost.  
  
Lost and wondering... Why?  
  
Why was his programming, so carefully and delicately monitored since his birth, all the sudden springing leaks and coming apart? Why did Duo, his best friend, suddenly discover some sort of... Of schoolgirlish crush? And on someone like HIM? For that matter, why did Duo even put up with him in the first place? Plus, he suddenly wondered, why did he put up with Duo?  
  
Well, because it was DUO. That one could at least be answered, though not quite with an answer that made sense. Oh well.  
  
Why..  
  
Why was everything so confusing, just when his life seemed to be on a fairly steady path?  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Duo sighed to himself as he wandered through aisle after aisle of weird, pointless electronics. All he wanted was a audio/video player, especially after his had suddenly decided to break. But nooo, nothing could be that simple, eh? All he had wanted was a nice 'Aisle 392, next to the cameras and stereos' not a "Well, um, they're like over there somewhere next to the photo thingies in the electronics place with the boomers..." At that point, he had simply walked away from the 'helpful' teenage employee, and settled on finding the item by himself.  
  
This, he then realized, could have been a mistake.  
  
The stores electronics aisles were dangerous in their own right. They extended as far as the eye could see, and as Duo had never even been to that particular store before he had no idea of the layout. True, with most stores he could find anything within seconds, and then instantly tell if the price was right, or if the object was broken, but something about this particular maze of carts and shelves had thrown him completely off.  
  
He sighed and looked at the next aisle, absent-mindedly scanning the people and products before swinging on to the next one. However, he paused - something on that aisle was different, something was..  
  
"DUO!"  
  
He blinked as a figure flung itself at him and squeezed him tightly. Recognition followed, and he tightly hugged the slim body in return.  
  
"Hilde! Haven't seen you for a while, how've you been? You look great!" Hilde released her hold on him and grinned cattishly.  
  
"Doing wonderfully! How about you, you and the other pilots and your Gundams?"  
  
Duos grin lessened slightly. "We've been doing fine, same old, same old... Hey, why are you here, instead of in the salvage yard? Are you alright?"  
  
She smiled, apparently finding something amusing in his concern, and shook her head. "Nope, the salvage yard and I are doing just fine, don't worry about it. I work here twice a week, that's it." Duo noticed the little pin on her shirt, reading, 'Hi, I'm Hilde, and it's So Nice for you to work at the Bila-bog Mart!' She glanced at his empty hands. "Looking for something?"  
  
He smiled rather and chuckled rather sheepishly. "Ehe... Yeah. CD Player broke, and I'm too lazy to fix it. Jeesh, Hilde, this damned store is a labyrinth! How the hell do you find anything?" She grinned.  
  
"All a matter of skill and practice, my friend. Observe." She strode confidently out of the aisle and into the large area, not even bothering to glance back and make sure he was following. Duo made a rather surprised noise and jogged to catch up, nearly knocking over several other customers in the process. Hilde passed nearly a dozen aisles without even a single glance, then halted in front of one marked '137 - Video and Audio Players'. Duo cursed at it, and she gave him a rather backwards grin before pointing at a set of shelves full of the same kind of player he had previously owned - the Vaud 194 - and selecting one. He felt a slight twinge of amazement that she still remembered, but then... They had lived together for quite a while, and knew each others habits nearly as well as Heero and him.  
  
He glanced at the one she had handed him and grinned at her choice; a pure black one, with the silver kanji for death - the only symbol Heero had bothered to teach him, in order to use in case of an emergency for code - scrawled across the top. Shinu. Death.  
  
Hilde shot him a glance and pointed at a pink one, covered with little flower stickers and happily displaying the word 'Princess'. Duo smiled grimly - he knew exactly who Hilde was thinking of. She had never been terribly fond of the Queen Relena, having met her once with Duo and Heero, and it had shown from the start.  
  
She blinked thoughtfully. "Think if we send it to her, she'd squeal and send us big pink thank yous?" Duo frowned slightly and pondered for a second.  
  
"No... She's not the type. She'd understand the joke, probably, but the Relena I've seen... I don't think she'd really like the bubblyness, or the pinkness, or especially the Princess. Much as I hate to say it, she's actually pretty damn smart - not to mention, she's super serious when working. 'Sides... We'd have to either track her down and mail it, taking weeks to track her down and probably losing her before it even arrived, or we could ask Heero to give it to her... He'd then want to know what was in it and wouldn't find it nearly as amusing, and chances aren't too bad that he might simply glare and blow it up." He shrugged nonchalantly; Relena didn't really bother him that much.  
  
By that time they had reached the checkout line, and Duo had immediately begun to examine the random tabloids. As all the Gundam pilots and Hilde knew, he found many of them quite amusing, particularly if they related to them, the generals, or the war. The pride of his collection, though, was a little beauty he had picked up on L1 - 'Gundam Pilot impregnates General Khushrenada - Pilot yet to be identified, General declines comment'. Duo had bought over fifty copies, sending them to everyone he knew - including the generals Treize and Zechs, though it was unknown if they had ever reached their destination. The current tabloid headers, though, weren't nearly as interesting - 'Mobile Dolls disguised as watermelons spy on housewife', 'Martial Arts Instructor Believes himself Zeus Incarnate', 'Cows turn against fruit flies - War rages'... Nothing terribly new.  
  
However, Hilde did notice his unusually enthusiastic attitude towards the rack of magazines and poked him with the CD Players box. He glanced over at her, rubbing the back of his head.  
  
"Ow... Problem?"  
  
"No, but since the subject came up... How IS Heero doing? I've seen you more recently then him, and it's been forever since I've seen you!"  
  
He gave a decidedly noncommittal shrug. "He's okay, I guess... Still killing people, still occasionally threatening to kill me, same old same old..." He gave another shrug and went back to the tabloid.  
  
She tossed him a Knowing Female Look, a look that irritated Duo to no end. He glared.  
  
"What?" Another look this one with a bit of Severe Mother-knows-allness thrown in for good measure.  
  
"First off, put the magazine down unless you plan on buying it, we're about to leave." He did so, and, after taking back his credit card, began to trot towards the door. Hilde paused a second before mumbling something to another employee, then flung off her apron and skipped after Duo.  
  
"Now then," She resumed as soon as she caught up, "Secondly, when I say, 'How's Heero?' we both know that I a-want more than an okay and b- am asking how are Heero and YOU?" He nodded slightly; this was indeed true, and they were both completely aware of it. Hilde had been the only one so far that he had told his feelings to, in the hope that perhaps telling someone would dull the crush. It hadn't, but he was glad anyway - Hilde was remarkably helpful and sisterly, though she had originally seemed slightly disappointed for reasons yet unknown.  
  
He sighed. "Well... Like I said, same old same old. He still has no idea, and is mostly the usual emotionless robot that he always was." Hilde blinked and leaned in closer, close enough he could smell Juicyfruit Gum on her breath.  
  
"Usually..." She said, with the air of a college professor or scientist examining some particularly fascinating artifact. Duo shrugged and chuckled softly.  
  
"Yeah. Usually. When he's around most other people, anyway, and a good bit of the time around me. Still... He's opening up, Hil', and he's seeming a lot more human every day. It's a tad amazing to watch, really." She nodded thoughtfully.  
  
"He still has no idea?" Duo smiled grimly and shook his head.  
  
"Just because he's opening up doesn't mean he's all the sudden become people-oriented - or people aware. Besides, Hilde, he's never even been around any normal human beings. He has no idea of anything of the sort and is therefore completely clueless about the whole thing, which is good, but... He'd have no idea what to do if he DID find out." Duo sucked in a breath and sighed, turning a street corner and towards the safe house.  
  
"Oh well... I'll get over it, Hilde, and we both know I have to. I mean really, there's not anything I could do about it, eh? I can talk to you, and I can talk to Cat - you remember him, right? You met him with me at the clothing store - The blondie?" She thought for a second, nodded, and sighed.  
  
"I suppose so... But I mean, still, it's kind of a sucky arrangement for both of you...." He paused.  
  
"I figure... I'll be fine, and get over it, and we'll be best friends and nothing will have happened..." Hilde nodded and opened her mouth to say something. However, he got there first.  
  
"And... he'll never have to know."  
  
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Reviews  
  
Muchacha - Er... ^^;; Gomen, but none of that :P As I said in my last rant, no Relena-bashing here. o.o; Thankies, though ^^  
  
Shayde-Sailor Phoenix (cool name oo;): Well, sort of a cliffie. ^^;; But he fell asleep pretty soon after that, so not really. n.n;  
  
Kuroi-game: *nodnod* Thankies, and yeah... That's another one of the plot devices I go for, the old 'Relena/Heero relationship of the past'ness... Sometimes, but not always, with WomensIntuition!Relena ^^; As she is in this story, along with Hilde :P Saves us the bashing, and makes us still love the charas.  
  
Dream-Weaver: Thankies, and will do. ^^  
  
Des: ...; Wow, I'm going to kill you, ya little perv. XD  
  
And this story both has some humor and some angst, so deal with it, Dezzerz. XP! I'm trying not to completely warp all the characters (as most funny stories do, and some angst) so... *patpat* You'll live. ^^  
  
So... I'll send it off to des, go to our band's little marchyness, and then it should be posted by tonight! ^^; (and if des hasn't betaed it, then I'll still post it tonight and then post the beta'd version tomorrow. ^^) 


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